If you are an Immucor customer, with your customer number you can access their LEARN online modules. Most provide PACE credits. Our lab techs find it can be challenging in the beginning to get access to their website, but the learning modules are very good.

Hello Malcolm - from your text it seems that the 'usual UK practice' needs to shift. Fortunately the proposed CAP reg does not require use of type O, only requiring a serological crossmatch. Re: preventing a LIS from permitting an electronic/computer crossmatch I suggest creating a placeholder 'antibody' for the requirement, which can be set to disallow. This antibody could be deleted when the requirement is resolved (awkward but possible).

Our Lab has a 'Documentation of Verbal Orders' - policy and form (available as Log Books), which the blood bank techs follow as needed. Like most labs we strongly encourage transfusion orders to be placed by the provider, nurse or trained patient services personnel, but we will accept and order as necessary.

In Cerner there are two Computer Crossmatch options. One requires you 'order' a crossmatch, then 'result' as a computer crossmatch which updates the rbc status to crossmatched and generates a crossmatch tag. We don't use this option, except for scheduled downtimes. Our preferred process is, as described previously by pbaker to computer crossmatch dispense in one process, capturing the all required information in real time (but we don't have the tools to scan employee badges, so we type). We now have a customized Transfusion Tag, on which we record the date & time dispensed, and sign. The transporter signs the tag when they handoff the blood to the transfusionist.

Thank you Malcolm, for traveling so far and sharing your expertise with us, and thank you to Phil as well ~~ it was an excellent convention ~~ Save the date, the 2018 70th Annual Convention is April 24th through the 26th ~~

We’re excited ~~ the 69th ASCLS-CNE Annual Convention’s speaker program is now available on the web ~ the site is open for online registration
Providence is a great city to visit in the spring – and this is an excellent opportunity for networking and learning.
Feel free to share this link www.ascls-cne.org/annual-convention to view the program and register!

The FDA states to report adverse events.
We are notifying the ordering providers of transfused patients, with a request to let us know of any unexpected clinical events have occurred subsequently, which could be related to this transfusion.

WE use the Sure-Tech kit and ~ 2 specimens per month are tested. The test is time and technique dependent, but competency is not an issue in our lab. The patient specimen results are usually clear and easily read by the techs.
The positive CAP survey specimens are not easy to process, and the Limits of Acceptability are quite wide - attesting to the challenge of this survey.